In shell end mills with full cutting rows of cutting inserts, usually the inner cutting inserts are arranged behind the frontal outermost cutting insert so that the cutting edge arranged on the receiving side is active, whereas the frontally arranged cutting edge is covered up by the adjacent active cutting edge and is therefore inactive. In order to be able to absorb the axial cutting force components acting onto the cutting inserts, the inner cutting inserts were supported frontally against an axial abutment surface. To create an insert seat with an axial abutment surface, however, requires a considerable manufacturing expense. The plate base must be created by an end mill in view of the axial abutment surface to be created at the same time, which end mill, because of the deep machining positions, requires a relatively large cantilever length, and which, to avoid collisions with adjacent interfering edges, can operate only with relatively narrow tool holders. This results in both the machining precision and the machining speed with much to be desired. Furthermore, the cutting section in conventional shell end mills is usually connected in one piece with the holder so that extensive storage is needed for various mill sizes and holder designs.
The basic purpose of the invention is to develop a shell end mill of the above-disclosed type, which can be manufactured easily and economically and in spite of this meets high requirements with respect to function.